Exciting times. Stuff is happening. What stuff, you ask? All of this.

Meet our Brewer – the man who makes the magic happen!

My name is Joe Ringwood, Brewer at The North Laine Brewhouse for The Laine Brew Co.

Before joining the team, I was Head Brewer at The Brockley Brewing Company in South East London.

I have always been passionate about high quality beer from around the world and spend most of my spare time (and cash) seeking out beers, which I haven’t yet tasted.

The world-famous Institute of Brewing and Distilling formally educated me in the art of making beer. However, my fascination with the brewing process started way before that. For years, I brewed beer at home, on my stove, under the grand tutelage of the legendary Ronald, my now 90-year-old grandfather!

We are in an incredibly exciting time, regarding beer styles in the U.K. Brewers, including myself, are taking inspiration from a global arena of Ingredients and cultures. I seriously have the greatest job in the world.

UK First! UV Body Marbling

You know those UV marbling nights you’ve been to? Oh, you do, do you? Liar! Cos we had the first one ever the other day. It was absolutely debauchery, as we’d hoped – the carnage took ages to clear up, but was so worth it. Jess got her bum marbled, obviously. Yeah, it was that sort of night.

You know those UV marbling nights you’ve been to? Oh, you do, do you? Liar! Cos we had the first one ever the other day. It was absolutely debauchery, as we’d hoped – the carnage took ages to clear up, but was so worth it. Jess got her bum marbled, obviously. Yeah, it was that sort of night.

£3 Laine Brew Co Beers Every Friday

You love the new Laine Brew Co beers, so from 5pm-10pm every Friday we’ve made them £3. No, it’s no problem. Really, just you coming and hanging out is thanks enough. No honestly, you don’t need to buy us any presents. Well, a new scarf would be nice. It’s getting cold after all.

You love the new Laine Brew Co beers, so from 5pm-10pm every Friday we’ve made them £3. No, it’s no problem. Really, just you coming and hanging out is thanks enough. No honestly, you don’t need to buy us any presents. Well, a new scarf would be nice. It’s getting cold after all.

Tap Takeover map released

The newly released Tap Takeover map will help you find your way between venues and plan your day.

This weekend’s Tap Takeover sees beer lovers moving between some of Brighton’s best pubs in search of craft beers from 9 of the UK’s best breweries.

The newly released Tap Takeover map will help you find your way between venues and plan your day- just make sure to stop in at the North Laine Brewhouse first to collect your wristband, goody bag and special can which can be filled and sealed at the on site canning station!

Canning At Tap Takeover

Buy a wristband for the Tap Takeover this weekend and get a special can in your goody bag!

Buy a wristband for the Tap Takeover this weekend and get a special can in your goody bag! You can have it filled with any festival beer of your choice and taken to the canning station that will be here on site to be sealed, only at the North Laine Brewhouse! We’re selling tickets all weekend.

Meet The Brewer – Next event October 20th.

New on Tap – Craft Beer.

We now have craft beer on tap from the likes of For Pure, Brighton Bier, Northern Star, Nene Valley & Naked Beer Co.

As if we didn’t have enough of our own #BrewedInBrighton beers, we now have craft beer on tap from the likes of For Pure, Brighton Bier, Northern Star, Nene Valley & Naked Beer Co. If you can’t find a beer to your tasting we’d be amazing. Ask us for some advice if you’re overwhelmed.

Fruit? In beer? What the hell is going on with my pint?

Visitors to any of our four brewpubs might have noticed a few fruit infused beers on the bar in recent months.

Visitors to any of our four brewpubs might have noticed a few fruit infused beers on the bar in recent months. We’ve been playing around with some of the beers lately, and by the sales of said beers, it has been well received by the brewers, barstaff and customers alike.

We’ve had Wheat Beers, Blondes, Pale Ales, Saisons and even Black IPA’s with various fruits such as Raspberry, Peach, Passionfruit, Cherry and Pineapple among others. For us, it’s a fun way of changing people’s perception of what beer can be. I have seen beer lovers, those new to beer, and people who have stated that they don’t like beer all enjoying them, which is great to see. I love seeing people who would normally only have spirits or wine start to embrace beer, and it’s all down to showing that there really is a beer for everyone!

Even a good friend of mine, who will stick exclusively to spirits apart from the very occasional time he has a mass produced lager (when it is free…), was seen buying multiple pints of the Passionfruit Pale Ale we had on at the Four Thieves.

First and foremost, these are beers that have an addition of fruit at either the conditioning stage in the fermenter or in the casks themselves during the secondary fermentation, not fruit drinks that have a bit of beer inside. There are many variables involved in this process. The amounts needed will always change, due to the type of fruit, the style of beer it’s going into and the ABV (Alcohol By Volume) of the beer itself. And like anything in brewing, sterilisation is vital. The last thing we want is for a well-made beer to be ruined due to the natural bacteria on fruit infecting it. A good way to counter that, for us, is by using natural fruit purees. These are sterilised and sealed up until use to avoid any nasties coming into contact with the beer.

And at the end of the day, it’s about beer being fun! We even had a batch of Blonde Ale at the North Laine Brewpub in Brighton that we split as half Blonde and half Fruit Blonde, with 4 different versions of the fruit so that people could vote on which was their favourite.

So come and have a try of these and our other beers at our four Brewpubs; North Laine in Brighton, Aeronaut in Acton, Four Thieves in Battersea and People’s Park Tavern in Hackney. We brewers are friendly folk, so feel free to have a chat if you see one of us!

Collaboration beer.

Collaboration beer. Two words, two (or more) breweries, one exciting product for both brewers and drinkers alike.

Collaboration beer. Two words, two (or more) breweries, one exciting product for both brewers and drinkers alike.

Let’s kick this off with a bit of an explanation as to why, in my opinion, collaborative brews are fantastic. I have done two separate collaborations down at the Four Thieves in a fairly quick time scale. One was the ‘Thieving Monk’, a Citra Pils, brewed with Northern Monk Brewing Co from Leeds. The other is a Coffee Porter, brewed with our awesome neighbours and friends, Sambrooks Brewery, which is almost ready to come out of the tank.

To me, collaborations are a way of combining the brewing methods and styles of both brewers involved. Brewers are renowned for having their own way of doing things in a brewery, so when you get two together, you find a middle ground on all of these processes and learn a new way for yourself. On top of that, the recipe typically starts as the host-brewers idea before many discussions so that both brewers are happy with what they are about to brew.

For Thieving Monk, Brian and I had many discussions about the malt to be used, as we both had different ideas. Thankfully he was crashing at my place, so we were able to make changes throughout the night, over a few beers of course!

The Coffee Porter was quite an interesting one to put together. We knew that we wanted to use some really good coffee, so we turned to Climpsons up in Hackney. We went up to do a coffee tasting at their arch in London Fields, and it was an eye opener to say the least, even for someone like me who considers coffee to be an important food group (the others being meat, cheese, beer, gin and whiskey)! With so many amazing blends to choose from, we went with Sasaba from Ethiopia, which gave off a raspberry flavour. Again, the recipe changed to incorporate that additional flavour.

We had a lot of fun on those two collab brews, especially since both Brian from Northern Monk and Sean from Sambrooks were already good mates of mine. Lots of techniques shared, beers enjoyed, and total nonsense talked as the post brewday celebrations kicked in. It can be a tough life sometimes….

That’s all for now, be sure to visit our brewpubs and see what we have been getting up to.

Slap It ON

People power takes over the North Laine Brewhouse on Tuesdays.

People power takes over the North Laine Brewhouse on Tuesdays when you choose the music you want to hear at Slap It On.

It’s a simple deal. Just tell them what you want to be listening to and they’ll pick the tune out (for those a little more shy about their music taste, paper is provided for more anonymous song selection scribbling).

Ok, there’s no guarantee they’ll let a full 60-minute Japanese extreme noise track play all the way through but if you’ve got a tune in mind you reckon your fellow pub-goers might enjoy, then give them the nod. It’s for fun, not for trainspotting.

Slap It On’s song-picking runs all day Tuesdays, while if you’re happier leaving the DJing to the experts, Russ Rockwell, Shelley Mack and DJ MP45 are among the North Laine’s regular weekend spinners for funk, soul, hip hop, reggae and other grooves.

Brewed In Brighton Competition

Between August and October we’re giving away prizes including meals, drinks and even an iPad in its weekly #BrewedInBrighton competition. Like. literally giving them away.

Between August and October we’re giving away prizes including meals, drinks and even an iPad in its weekly #BrewedInBrighton competition. Like. literally giving them away. You hardly have to do anything. OK, you have to do a little thing.

To enter, all you need do is take a picture of your favourite thing about Brighton, tag it with the hashtag #BrewedInBrighton and upload it to Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Maybe it’s the sunset over the West Pier. Maybe it’s a seagull nicking your chips. Maybe it’s a pint of pint of our beer. It’s a pint of our beer isn’t it?

The competition begins on Monday 17th August and runs for 8 weeks. Winners will be chosen every Friday and the prizes are as follows:

North Laine Beer School

If you fancy learning more about your favourite thirst quencher with a closer look at how the brewery works, tours can be pre-booked for any day of the week!

If you fancy learning more about your favourite thirst quencher with a closer look at how the brewery works, tours can be pre-booked for any day of the week!

Beer School is ideal for many occasions, from birthdays and anniversaries to team building or staff days out, or maybe just because you fancy getting close to the beer.

Starting at just £15 you can enjoy a tour of the Laine Brewery and sample the beer while you learn. The tour takes about an hour and with intimate groups of around 10 you’ll come away feeling well-informed and a little warm and fuzzy inside. Includes a sampling session after the tour!

Tours can also be tailored to include meal options or to accommodate bigger groups. To book your visit, email hello@northlaine.pub